Allschwil Meeting 2018

[Sylvain Cote]

It's Thursday 15h00 (DST, GMT-4) in Montréal, leaving for Basel now, will be there Friday at 13h30 (GMT+1)

[CY-CL]

I wish you a good trip, see you soon!

(11-01-2018 07:00 PM)Sylvain Cote Wrote:  It's Thursday 15h00 (DST, GMT-4) in Montréal, leaving for Basel now, will be there Friday at 13h30 (GMT+1)

[HP-Collection]

I too wish you all a safe journey. I look forward to welcoming you all on Saturday.

[Jurgen Keller]

A big THANK YOU to Matthias and Hans-Peter for organizing the Allschwil 2018 meeting. We had a great day, interesting presentations, a lot of discussions, and - last but not least - a very tasty Swiss Fondue. There are still so many things I'd like to explore with respect to HP calculators that I fear the rest of my life is not enough! :-)

[rprosperi]

(11-04-2018 02:00 PM)Jurgen Keller Wrote:  A big THANK YOU to Matthias and Hans-Peter for organizing the Allschwil 2018 meeting. We had a great day, interesting presentations, a lot of discussions, and - last but not least - a very tasty Swiss Fondue. There are still so many things I'd like to explore with respect to HP calculators that I fear the rest of my life is not enough! :-)

Photos please!

Of the attendees and presentations, that is, I know what Fondue looks like.

[Giancarlo]

Hello,
I am driving back from The meeting.
I would like to thank Matthias and Hans Peter for the organization of the meeting. I really enjoined the comunity (very active) and the presentations.

It is always a pleasure to see so many calcs in the same room!

The fondue was very good. We also took compromising pictures of people drinking the local cherry based kirsch so my calculator collection could grow quicker this year :+)

Thanks

Giancarlo

[MeindertKuipers]

Just arrived home safely from another great meeting in Switzerland. Thanks Matthias and Hans-Peter and all the others. And I do plan to be there again at the next meeting!

[Sylvain Cote]

(11-04-2018 09:46 PM)eg64293 Wrote:  

(11-04-2018 04:26 PM)MeindertKuipers Wrote:  Just arrived home safely from another great meeting in Switzerland. Thanks Matthias and Hans-Peter and all the others. And I do plan to be there again at the next meeting!

I fullheartedly agree. Improved location, lots of interesting stuff, premium catering serving true Swiss food. Look forward seeing you in two years again!

Same here.
Thank you Matthias and Hans-Peter for the great organisation, IMHO a real improvement from two years ago.
Always a pleasure to see and talk to all of you guys.
I still have a hard time matching faces, names and nicknames thought, but it's coming along. LOL
Still in Basel, did a lot of site seeing today, on foot and on public transport, very nice city.
I am so envious of Basel public transport, lots of bus/tram, always on time, well Switzerland ...
I find it very amazing that peoples, cars, bicycle, tram, bus, etc, share the same space, no stop, no lights, everything is fluid and everybody is relax, amazing.
You do that in Montreal and within 5 minutes, everything will stop because there would have been an accident, somebody will be at the hospital because nobody will follow the sign and everybody will try to be first without caring for the others.
Too much cars, too much trafic, too much stress, not enough time, too much work & deficient public transport, what would you expect! depressing so envious
Leaving for Montreal tomorrow (Monday), travel day.
I hope to able to attend again in two years.
Sylvain

[badaze]

(11-04-2018 10:59 PM)Sylvain Cote Wrote:  You do that in Montreal and within 5 minutes, everything will stop because there would have been an accident, somebody will be at the hospital because nobody will follow the sign and everybody will try to be first without caring for the others.
Too much cars, too much trafic, too much stress, not enough time, too much work & deficient public transport, what would you expect! depressing so envious

Swiss are considered as quiet people in Europe. As they say in Romandie to say There’s no urgency "Y a pas le feu au lac" (the lake is not on fire).

Romandie is the French speaking region of Switzerland.

[Eric Rechlin]

(11-04-2018 10:59 PM)Sylvain Cote Wrote:  I find it very amazing that peoples, cars, bicycle, tram, bus, etc, share the same space, no stop, no lights, everything is fluid and everybody is relax, amazing.
You do that in Montreal and within 5 minutes, everything will stop because there would have been an accident, somebody will be at the hospital because nobody will follow the sign and everybody will try to be first without caring for the others.

Sounds like Houston. There the pedestrians and bicyclists get run over by the cars, all three of the above get run over by the buses, and all four above get run over by the trams. And nobody cares. Here's an example of a bus and train running into each other in Houston:





I do hope to make it to Allschwil in two years, for the first time. Sounds like you had a good time!

[Thomas Klemm]

Allschwil Meeting 2018

Introduction
Found this picture in the thread: Nice finding in a drawer.



On 11.10.2015, 01:08 TASP wrote:

Quote:I assume we will have 3D printed reproductions available in a few days.

Goal
2D print a slide-rule for the Pythagorean theorem.

How does it work?
The scale maps a number x to x². Thus we can easily add c² = a² + b².
Then we can map the result back to c.
Or then we can calculate the other cathetus b² = c² - a² given the hypotenuse and one cathetus.

Scales
There are two scales:

• One going from 0-10.
• The other from 0-20.
  

With the upper scale we can calculate: 3² + 4² = 5²
With the lower scale we can calculate: 5² + 12² = 13²

Obviously it's not possible to use this slide rule for all possible combinations.

Quote:For greatest accuracy, use upper scale if possible.

PostScript Documentation

• The red book: PostScript Language Reference Manual
• The blue book: PostScript LanguageTutorial and Cookbook
• The green book: PostScript LanguageProgram Design
• A First Guide to PostScript
• UBC MATH COMPUTING LAB DOCUMENTATION PostScript
• Mathematical Illustrations
• Learning PostScript by Doing
• Postscript Operators
  

GhostScript

Environment
Use ghostscript as a REPL to interactively create the program.

Show the PostScript File

Code:

gs pythagoras-slide-rule.ps

Create a PDF

Code:

ps2pdf pythagoras-slide-rule.ps pythagoras-slide-rule.pdf

Slides

Preparation
To view the slides using vim you need the following settings in your ~/.vimrc file:

Code:

set exrc
set secure

This allows to load the local .vimrc file that maps the left and right arrow keys to :N and :n:

Code:

map <Left> :N<CR>
map <Right> :n<CR>

Start
To start the presentation open all the files:

Code:

cd slides
vim *

Intro
Use the first page to scale your terminal.

Navigation
Use the left and right arrow keys to navigate backwards and forwards.

Exit
To exit the presentation press:

Code:

:q!

Attachment
This is the content of the allschwil-meeting-2018.zip file:

Code:

allschwil-meeting-2018
├── img
│   └── measurement-error-calculator.jpg
├── pythagoras-slide-rule.pdf
├── pythagoras-slide-rule.ps
├── readme.md
└── slides
    ├── 00-intro
    ├── 01-title
    ├── 02-language
    ├── 03-operations
    ├── 04-arithmetic-operations
    ├── 05-arithmetic-operations
    ├── 06-mathematical-functions
    ├── 07-mathematical-functions
    ├── 08-stack-operations
    ├── 09-stack-operations
    ├── 10-comparison-operations
    ├── 11-comparison-operations
    ├── 12-boolean-operations
    ├── 13-boolean-operations
    ├── 14-data
    ├── 15-number.ps
    ├── 16-string.ps
    ├── 17-array.ps
    ├── 18-dictionary.ps
    ├── 19-variables
    ├── 20-global.ps
    ├── 21-local.ps
    ├── 22-control-structures
    ├── 23-conditions
    ├── 24-conditions
    ├── 25-loops
    ├── 26-loops
    ├── 27-while-loop.ps
    ├── 28-greatest-common-divisor.ps
    ├── 29-greatest-common-divisor.rpl
    ├── 30-types
    └── 31-thank-you

2 directories, 36 files

Build Instructions

• Print the pythagoras-slide-rule.pdf file on thick paper. I used A4 160g/m².
• Cut along the three horizontal solid lines. We don't need the top and bottom stripes.
• Fold the wider strip along the dashed lines.
• Flip the folded strip so that the scales are at the top.
• Insert the other strip so that the scales match.
  

It should look somewhat like this:


Kind regards
Thomas

[HP-Collection]

It really was a wonderful meeting and I would like to thank all participants, speakers and my co-organizer Hans-Peter for their support.

Pictures? Guys, we all have families and work
Here ist the traditional group picture. More pics and the whole report will be available on my website soon.

Matthias

[Jonathan Busby]

(11-04-2018 11:32 PM)Eric Rechlin Wrote:  Sounds like Houston. There the pedestrians and bicyclists get run over by the cars, all three of the above get run over by the buses, and all four above get run over by the trams. And nobody cares. Here's an example of a bus and train running into each other in Houston:

[snip]

I do hope to make it to Allschwil in two years, for the first time. Sounds like you had a good time!

Houston! HA! Tell me about it! I live in the north-west part of Harris county, about 30 miles away from downtown Houston. All that Eric says is true. One thing that illustrates the problem is the horrible "light-rail" system we have here. The light-rail crosses intersections and streets and frequently runs into car and people, and there have been fatalities. Read more about it on Google : https://goo.gl/XGjgV6

I hope to have permanently changed my residence to Colorado by this time next year though, and I won't miss Houston traffic

I also wish to attend the meeting possibly next year or so, once I have the time, as, to paraphrase Clive Barker's Order of Gash mythos ( Well, it was just Halloween ) : "I have such sights to show you..." .

If I attend the meeting next year, it will be my first visit to Europe. I was all set to go to HHC2001 and I had gotten my passport and my plane tickets, but, then 9/11 happened and I haven't flown since

Potentia Saturni tecum semper sit!

Regards,

Jonathan

[HP-Collection]

Next Allschwil HP Meeting is in two years, so in 2020.... you have time to organize your live until then.....

[Jonathan Busby]

(11-05-2018 07:06 PM)HP-Collection Wrote:  Next Allschwil HP Meeting is in two years, so in 2020.... you have time to organize your live until then.....

Thanks for the correction

I probably couldn't come next year anyways even if there was a meeting as everything will be hectic and chaotic with my move to Colorado

Regards,

Jonathan

[mfleming]

(11-05-2018 06:14 PM)Jonathan Busby Wrote:  Houston! HA! Tell me about it! I live in the north-west part of Harris county, about 30 miles away from downtown Houston. All that Eric says is true. One thing that illustrates the problem is the horrible "light-rail" system we have here. The light-rail crosses intersections and streets and frequently runs into car and people, and there have been fatalities. Read more about it on Google : https://goo.gl/XGjgV6

Lived in Texas for 7 years with many a visit to Houston and Dallas. Driving is the ultimate expression of the real Texas spirit, with Houston being the most exuberant. A red light at an intersection is occasion for honking your horn as you sail through. Pedestrians are hit because they don't have the good sense to get out of the way. From speaking with coworkers, Houston is basically Mumbai with a Southern accent and fewer cows in the middle of the road. The traffic is indescribably bad, but on the other hand, there is something exhilarating about feeling lucky to be alive *every* *single* *day*

~Mark

[Eric Rechlin]

(11-06-2018 01:38 AM)mfleming Wrote:  From speaking with coworkers, Houston is basically Mumbai with a Southern accent and fewer cows in the middle of the road. The traffic is indescribably bad, but on the other hand, there is something exhilarating about feeling lucky to be alive *every* *single* *day*

After having spent 3 months working in Mumbai, you nailed it. I used to ride my bicycle to work in Houston, for several years. After a bad crash (I have no memory of it) that left me unconscious for a while and hospitalized me for 5 days, I've been taking the bus/train ever since. So far I've only been in one crash -- the bus I was in was unharmed (though I had a bit of a sore back the next day) but the SUV was pretty much destroyed.

[Jonathan Busby]

(11-06-2018 01:38 AM)mfleming Wrote:  Lived in Texas for 7 years with many a visit to Houston and Dallas. Driving is the ultimate expression of the real Texas spirit, with Houston being the most exuberant.

I'm an Aspie so it's hard for me to separate the jokes from the facts veiled in facetiousness

I would agree, and also, to add to this, if you really want to express your "Texas spirit", then, buy a gas-guzzling huge lifted pick-up truck and drive 20 miles over the speed limit, ride people's bumpers, put a tuned muffler on and create lots of noise pollution, accelerate quickly even though your 6-cylinder Diesel engine wasn't made for that, blast out clouds of black exhaust ( so called "rolling coal" ), and in general, have road rage and weave into and out of lanes passing people, and, of course, always run the red.

Quote: A red light at an intersection is occasion for honking your horn as you sail through.

HA! I have to agree!

Quote:Pedestrians are hit because they don't have the good sense to get out of the way.

Especially when the cars are blocking the cross-walk and have almost pulled out into the intersection on a red light.

Quote: From speaking with coworkers, Houston is basically Mumbai with a Southern accent and fewer cows in the middle of the road.

Cows! Well, in downtown Houston, you'll occasionally find horses on the road if you drive through the Acre's Homes region, and I'm being serious

Quote: The traffic is indescribably bad, but on the other hand, there is something exhilarating about feeling lucky to be alive *every* *single* *day*

~Mark

HAHA! Nice one!

Regards,

Jonathan

[Jonathan Busby]

(11-06-2018 03:04 AM)Eric Rechlin Wrote:  After having spent 3 months working in Mumbai, you nailed it. I used to ride my bicycle to work in Houston, for several years. After a bad crash (I have no memory of it) that left me unconscious for a while and hospitalized me for 5 days, I've been taking the bus/train ever since.

I have been in only one car crash, as the driver, and it was near an intersection a few miles from my house that is considered the worst in the state, but I wasn't seriously injured, although, the car was totaled. It must have been a very horrible experience for you to get hit while you were walking or riding a bicycle

Quote: So far I've only been in one crash -- the bus I was in was unharmed (though I had a bit of a sore back the next day) but the SUV was pretty much destroyed.

In my case, it was my tiny Toyota Corolla against a giant GMC SUV -- the SUV of course "won" :|.

Regards,

Jonathan

EDIT : Kind of OT, but I forgot to mention what I call "Frisbee of death" dump trucks. They're huge dump trucks carrying things such as scrap metal with a covering / tarp which is *supposed* to be pulled over the top, but which is often not. If you're unlucky enough to be near downtown Houston on, say, I-10, then watch out for these things : They can throw out metal debris that will go right through your windshield and kill you, and it's happened before.

[Jurgen Keller]

(11-04-2018 11:29 PM)badaze Wrote:  As they say in Romandie to say There’s no urgency "Y a pas le feu au lac" (the lake is not on fire).

Hmm, I remember that once there was some "Smoke on the water" ;-)